A DAP Minister Gave Up His Seat At An MCA Stronghold — And Won The Room
A seating snafu at PM Anwar’s dialogue session at TAR UMT turned into a mini political drama when Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming showed up unannounced, forcing organisers to bump the university president to the second row.
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A seating snafu at an MCA-linked university event nearly turned awkward, until a DAP minister made a classy move.
It was supposed to be a straightforward dialogue session at Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) in Kuala Lumpur recently.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was there, the VIPs were lined up, and everything was set — until Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming showed up unannounced.
The front row had exactly seven seats, with Anwar right in the middle.
But with Nga’s arrival, someone had to go — and the PM’s office decided it would be university president Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei.
Cue the Awkwardness
TAR UMT board chairman Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy — a former MCA deputy president and Transport Minister — wasn’t having it.
He pointed out that it didn’t look great for the university’s own boss to be pushed aside on his own campus.
He suggested squeezing in an eighth chair, but the PM’s office said no — adding another seat would knock Anwar off-centre.
Cue the standoff.
That’s when the current Transport Minister, Anthony Loke, stepped in.
Loke offered to move himself, Nga, and Federal Territories Minister Hannah Yeoh — all DAP — to the second row instead.
This is your home ground. We’ll sit at the back.
A Step Back, A Win Forward
If you know your Malaysian political history, there’s a certain irony here.
Back when Chan was in his prime, MCA was the dominant Chinese party (it held 31 of the 40 parliamentary seats it contested), and DAP was in the wilderness.
Now the roles are reversed — and yet here was Loke, the man from the party that ate MCA’s lunch, deferring to his hosts with a smile.
As the Chinese saying goes: 退一步，海闊天空 (teoi jat bou, hoi fut tin hung) — take a step back, and the sea and sky open up.
Sometimes giving ground is how you win the room.
Chan later praised Loke for his quick thinking and class — a rare moment of warmth between two parties with a long, complicated history.
MCA Tells It Differently
Not everyone saw it as a DAP win.
MCA Bangi’s Facebook post framed the incident rather differently — crediting Chan for “defending dignity” and calling Lee “TAR UMT’s soul figure.”
As for the ‘uninvited guest’ who triggered the chaos?
The post called him a “cheeky cannon who shows up with nothing to show for it” (厚着脸皮出席的大炮) — a thinly veiled swipe at Nga.
In MCA’s telling, this wasn’t about DAP being gracious.
It was about the old guard holding the line at their own turf.
TAR UMT — founded by MCA in 1969 to serve the Chinese community — has since grown from a college into a full-fledged university, now overseen by the TARC Education Foundation.
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